Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Hello, Officer Ji, I Dreamed I Killed Someone Again

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tiancheng shot to his feet and took the file from the officer’s hand.

"Are you serious?"

Zhao Shuo nodded. "Jiang Dewang overheard some of the other officers mention Jiang Li’s name. He thinks she’s the one who reported him, so he started cursing her out in there."

Zhao Shuo took a deep breath. ’That’s what you call putting justice before family,’ he thought. ’But if that’s the case, is Jiang Li really innocent in all this?’

Back at her apartment, Jiang Li sat staring blankly out the window. She had truly dreamt all of it. At first, she didn’t know it was Jiang Dewang. Then, that day, she returned and saw the sausage cart in the corner. After that, she got a call from Jiang Dewang, who claimed his leg was injured and he needed surgery.

She had gone to the police station at the crack of dawn just to confirm her suspicions. As it turned out, it really was Jiang Dewang.

Jiang Li smiled. The hatred she had suppressed for over twenty years was finally released in that moment.

RING... RING... RING...

Seeing the incoming call, Jiang Li picked up her phone.

"Jiang Li, we need you to come down to the station."

Ji Qinghe gripped her phone tightly. Her colleagues were already waiting downstairs from Jiang Li’s apartment. If she refused, they were ready to go up and bring her in by force.

"Alright, Officer Ji."

Jiang Li grabbed her jacket from nearby. The moment she opened her door, she saw Zhao Shuo, who had just come up the stairs.

"Miss Jiang, Captain Zhou sent me to pick you up." The moment Zhao Shuo saw her, his entire body tensed as he watched her warily.

Jiang Li nodded. "Thank you for coming."

In the car, Zhao Shuo contacted Zhou Tiancheng and the others back at the station. "Jiang Li is calm. No resistance."

Arriving at the police station once more, Jiang Li looked around and felt an unexpected sense of security.

Zhou Tiancheng approached her, his expression grim. "Miss Jiang, is Jiang Dewang your father?"

Jiang Li shook her head. "No."

"Jiang Dewang already told us you’re his daughter."

Jiang Li met the captain’s serious gaze, her own expression perfectly calm. "That’s because he abducted me. I am not his daughter."

Zhou Tiancheng eyed her with suspicion. Jiang Li pulled a DNA paternity test report from her bag, her voice soft but steady.

"If you don’t believe me, Officer Zhou, I’m willing to cooperate and take another DNA test."

Zhou Tiancheng glanced at the report, then back at Jiang Li. "Why didn’t you say so from the start?"

"Huh? Jiang Dewang is a murderer. That’s a fact. He’s already been arrested. Would this connection to me somehow have gotten him off the hook?"

Jiang Li genuinely hadn’t considered it. She was being tormented by nightmares, and her feelings about Jiang Dewang were only suspicions at the time.

She hadn’t slept in two days; her mind was truly lagging.

Zhou Tiancheng sighed and put a hand to his forehead.

Ji Qinghe quickly stepped forward, nudging Zhou Tiancheng aside. "Miss Jiang, you said you were kidnapped by Jiang Dewang. Could you tell us more about that? It could help secure his conviction."

Jiang Li nodded, walking over to the seat she had occupied earlier that day. "I was seven when Jiang Dewang abducted me. I’ve always remembered that I was taken.

"Growing up, I wasn’t like other kids. Jiang Dewang didn’t like me, so he mostly left me alone. Once I was old enough, I moved out to get a job and gradually cut ties with him.

"This time was purely a coincidence."

Jiang Li looked at the two officers before her, her expression earnest.

"Alright, Miss Jiang. Thank you for your cooperation." Ji Qinghe gathered the items on the desk as she looked at Jiang Li.

By the time Jiang Li left the police station, the sky was pitch-black.

"Officer Ji, are we really just letting her go?"

Zhao Shuo watched Jiang Li’s retreating figure. He couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something unsettling about her.

"What else? Do you have any proof?" Ji Qinghe retorted. "All the evidence points to Jiang Dewang acting alone. Are we supposed to arrest her based on mere suspicion?"

Zhao Shuo gave a wry twist of his lips before turning to go back inside and finish up.

Back home, Jiang Li took a hot shower and lit some calming aromatherapy incense, thinking she could finally get a peaceful night’s sleep.

The next second, she was hit by the sensation of a powerful impact. Jiang Li’s eyes flew open as she watched the scene before her unfold. The car plowed straight into a group of pedestrians, sending a dozen people flying like paper dolls.

Blood splattered across the windshield in front of her. Jiang Li’s breath hitched, and her heart hammered against her ribs as she watched. She tried to slam on the brakes, but her body wouldn’t obey.

She could only watch, helpless, as the car she was driving mowed down every last pedestrian.

Jiang Li’s head was BUZZING as she stared at the scene. Even though she knew it wasn’t her, experiencing it from this first-person perspective made her chest tighten until she could barely breathe.

The next moment, she was getting out of the car. As the door opened, the thick stench of blood mixed with the cold wind, shooting a chill straight to her core. Her vision swam. She knew she couldn’t take any more.

Yet she was still being pulled forward against her will.

A single glance was enough to make her stomach churn violently.

To her right, in a pool of blood, lay a decapitated body. A single, bloody shoe rested by her feet. Pinned beneath a tire, a man was wailing and begging for help. A long, smeared trail of blood stretched out behind the car.

Several others lay injured on the ground, screaming in agony.

’Call the police!’

Jiang Li screamed in her mind, on the verge of breaking down. But in the next second, she watched herself get back into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life.

Jiang Li’s eyes widened in horror. ’It can’t be...’

In the next instant, she felt her foot slam on the accelerator. The car shot forward, mercilessly plowing into the few survivors on the ground.

BANG!

The world went black as Jiang Li fainted. Just before she lost consciousness, she vaguely heard someone hurry over and start complaining.

"Look at you, so impatient. Why’d you have to kill them all? These are still warm. What if there was something useful?"

"Then you go check them for any valuable organs."

Jiang Li jolted awake from the dream once more. The phantom scent of blood lingered in her nostrils. The sound of the car’s impact, the squelch of something bursting as the tires rolled over it—it was all terrifyingly real.

She scanned her familiar little apartment, then with a trembling hand, she grabbed her phone and dialed the number Ji Qinghe had called from the night before.

"Jiang Li? What’s wrong?" Ji Qinghe’s voice came from the other end of the line, and the sound of it grounded her slightly.

"O-Officer Ji... I dreamed I killed people again." Jiang Li’s voice trembled uncontrollably. Her right hand clutched the phone, desperate to hear more of the voice on the other end.

Ji Qinghe shot up from her chair. "Don’t panic. I’m coming to get you right now."

Zhou Tiancheng walked out from an inner office. "What’s wrong?"

"That was Jiang Li. She said she dreamed she killed someone again. I’m going to go get her." Ji Qinghe grabbed a set of car keys and headed for the door.

Zhou Tiancheng’s brows furrowed. ’Could it really be this bizarre?’ he thought.

"I’m going with you."

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

A knock sounded at the door. Jiang Li’s body went rigid as she stared at it warily.

"Jiang Li, it’s me, Ji Qinghe."

Hearing Ji Qinghe’s voice, she got up and opened the door.

"Officer Ji," Jiang Li said, her lips pale as she looked at Ji Qinghe, "I dreamed I was driving a car and hit people."